Re: columbia -- what really happened
On Tue, Feb 04, 2003 at 11:35:20PM -0500, David P James wrote:
> Brooks R. Robinson wrote:
> >The only thing those of us stuck somewhere in the middle can hope for, is
> >that the research paid for by our government accidentally stumbles upon
> >that
> >magic energy formula, bringing us into the Stak Trek economy.
>
> You do realize that a Star Trek economy is not really possible? I like
> Star Trek as much as the next geek but they really got that aspect
> wrong. They can get away with it aboard the Enterprise because it is a
> military ship and the chain of command determines how things get done.
> But there is scant attention paid to how the rest of the civilian, free
> and democratic Federation functions. Who builds all these ships? Why?
> Why not something else? Where do the materials come from? All ignored,
> because it can't work.
What do you think of the Culture economy? All work is done by
machines, which are designed to work properly and last for millennia -
fully upgradeable, of course. So no-one has to worry about going
hungry or any other physical need, or want. The Luddites never saw
this far ahead. For all our technology, we're still Luddites today.
Pigeon
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